Onwards & Upwards - Farewell To Kaitie Jowers

By Jake Harper

If you know Kaitie Jowers, then you know how bittersweet it is that her time at Sorenson Impact recently came to an end. Kaitie officially left the Center in July of 2018 to attend law school at Georgetown University. Although everyone will miss her greatly, we’re excited for her to pursue her dreams. We’re also very appreciative of everything she did for the Center. Here’s a glimpse at some of the incredible things she did in her time at Sorenson Impact, and a chance to get to know Kaitie a little bit better.

Kaitie started at Sorenson Impact as a student fellow during her senior year. After graduating, she chose to stay as a full-time employee. When asked why she chose to continue working at the Center, she said,

“I had a couple of different offers when I graduated from college. I chose to stay [at Sorenson Impact] because of the people; I love the people here. Also, the opportunities the Center gave me far outweighed any other opportunities that I had; I got to work on interesting projects and continue learning as I worked across many different sectors. The Center was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

While earning her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Utah, she was involved with the Hinckley Institute of Politics where she had many incredible opportunities, such as working on the Malian presidential campaign of BYU Alumnus Yeah Samake. She helped to fundraise and promote his campaign on social media.

Her interest in the international community flourished during her time at Sorenson Impact as well. As part of her work for the Center, she travelled to India to work with local entities on financing sanitation projects in the country. She plans to continue to work on international projects; when asked what she wants to study in law school, she replied, “I’m really interested in international and human rights law, both of which I’ve been able to get a taste for here at the Center. My passion in those areas has been strengthened by the projects I’ve worked on at Sorenson Impact.” She continued, “I feel like Sorenson Impact really prepared me for grad school. I feel like I have more of a competitive advantage not only having work experience but also working in such an innovative field that works across so many sectors. That really set me up well.”

Kaitie Jowers, former Senior Associate at the Sorenson Impact Center

An exciting highlight of Sorenson Impact is the Winter Innovation Summit. Every year, the Center puts on an impressive conference that brings hundreds of people together from a wide spectrum of fields for a multi-day event. Approximately 700 people come to the Summit each year, which creates the perfect environment for networking and idea exchange. Putting something of this magnitude together is a daunting, intimidating task, but it’s one that Kaitie handled in phenomenal fashion. As co-manager of the summit one year, and manager the next, Kaitie was in charge of running the Summit and making sure everything went smoothly. The Winter Innovation Summit is a spectacular conference that facilitates education and growth in many social impact fields, and it wouldn’t be possible without incredible people like Kaitie.

The best way to understand Kaitie and what working at Sorenson has meant to and done for her is to listen to her talk about the changes she’s seen in herself throughout her time here.

Coming into Sorenson Impact I believed ‘I like to volunteer. I think it’s good to help people’ but coming out of my time here I have a much deeper knowledge of how to help people and a much deeper sense of obligation to do good and help others. It’s pretty rare to learn that in a workplace. I feel like you come away from most workplaces saying, ‘That was good, another line on my resume, and I made some money, made some good connections, maybe did some good things.’ But I’m leaving Sorenson Impact with a conviction that it is important and necessary to help other people. It’s important to use the resources, education, and connections we have to benefit others. The system, as it has been, isn’t how it has to stay.

Challenging the status quo, looking for new and better ways to do things, and being willing to deviate from tradition in order to help those in need are fundamental principles at Sorenson Impact. It’s clear when talking to the talented people that work there, like Kaitie, that those values become a part of everyone involved with this incredible social impact movement.

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